What a high-energy, hard-to-explain, but ever-so-cool-to-experience evening we had with the Crosby Collective last Thursday night.
It was the first of their sold-out two-night stint at the Lobero Theatre (June 12-13) and quite an enjoyably unique flex of musical muscle from bandleader Jason Crosby and an impressive crew that included Dave Schools, Greg Leisz, John Morgan Kimock, Tom Guarna, Doug Stringer, Jeremy Jeffers, Lamar Williams Jr., Chavonne Stewart, AnDre Washington, and Alethea Mills, and some select songs with special guest Jackson Browne.
There’s never enough Jackson Browne in my opinion, and I was definitely left wanting more from him last week, but that didn’t stop the entire evening from being terrific.
The Crosby Collective setlist flowed seamlessly from “Clair de Lune” to tunes from Johnny Cash, The Allman Brothers, the Grateful Dead, Michael Jackson, The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Electric Light Orchestra, and so many more great artists. Crosby — who mostly played keyboards with some strings thrown in for good measure — was like a really great maestro/DJ, only this band’s smooth segues from song to song were live, never skipping a beat, with standout vocals from Stewart, Mills, Washington, and Williams, and cleverly unexpected mash-ups of old favorites like “Billie Jean” and “Riders on the Storm” keeping us on our toes and listening carefully for the next inventive twist.
After a longish intermission — where I realized that much of the crowd had been expecting yet another David Crosby tribute and had no idea beforehand what an unusual musical delight they were in for — it was Jackson Browne’s time to shine. Opening with a stripped down version of “My Opening Farewell,” with Crosby on the keyboard and Browne on guitar, Browne was in fine vocal form and good humor. “It feels weird to sing a song up here and not have it turn into another song,” he said with a smirk.
“It’s such a pleasure to be on stage with Jason Crosby. … And the Lobero Theatre is also one of my favorite theaters,” added Browne, as he launched into what he described as the “rehab version” of his iconic “Cocaine,” with lyrics by Browne and Glenn Frey. Of the 1975 song, a reworking of “Cocaine Blues” by the Reverend Gary Davis, Browne said, “I learned to play this song long before I knew what cocaine was.”
Browne’s 2008 “Far From the Arms of Hunger,” with the particularly powerful for the times we’re living in lyrics, “Where people walk in wonder / And speak to one another / And recognize as brother / The face across the border” was a haunting reminder of the world outside the theater, as was “Colors of the Sun” from 1973’s For Everyman album, a song he thanked Jason for suggesting.
Then, before we knew it, Browne was off stage again, and the Crosby Collective was back to their earlier high energy happenings, with the incredible organist Jeremy Jeffers (who happens to be blind) leading a mashup of The Beach Boys classic “God Only Knows” (just days after Brian Wilson’s death) with the Grateful Dead’s “Scarlet Begonia,” then seamlessly segueing into Kenny Loggins’s “Footloose” and “Take It Higher.” Then they were off and running with high octane zest and songs from The Kinks, Marvin Gaye, and Paul McCartney. This was followed by a fun mashup tribute to Jackson Browne — ”Keep on Taking Her Easy” — about which Crosby said, “that’s how I told him about this project.”
Their somewhat famous Grateful Dead and Nirvana mashup was next, and finally Jackson Browne was back on stage to perform “Running on Empty.” They ended the night with “Oh Happy Day,” which was indeed an apt description for the whole performance!
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